Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The 10 Plagues of Testing

By Fred Smith, a
testing specialist and consultant, was an administrative analyst for the New
York City public schools.

There doesn’t seem to be any relief from
high-stakes testing which has become the cruelest of taskmasters in public
school systems throughout the land. It has become a form of
enslavement whose lash is felt by students, parents, teachers and principals.

The Pharaoh enthroned in this Haggadah of
misery rules from the gleaming palaces of Albany and Tweed, controlling the
upper and lower empire, raining oppression upon his suffering populace.
The masses await a modern day Moses to save them from the 10 Plagues of testing
that keep them in chains:

The stream of learning that nourishes the minds
of the youth and flows between teachers and students is bloodied by this
heartless king who has decreed that testing shall be what is taught.
And so, day in and day out are spent preparing for exams, fouling the
wellsprings of knowledge and bringing a drought to those thirsting to learn.

For the Pharaoh is mighty. He instills fear in
the people for failure to obey. Dread sweeps over the land as if caused by
deafening screeches made by armies of frogs. It is visited on everyone should
anyone question the wisdom of the exams. Especially harsh consequences are
threatened if even one bold parent asks what the benefit to the children is.
This brings forth thunderous wrath. Children will be punished, teachers exiled
and schools closed for the welfare of the realm.

But the people have grown angry over the years
because the schools have left them with little hope. A spirit of rebellion is
starting to stir. The Ruler knows he needs to do something. High priests are
summoned to give counsel. Then his vizier whispered their scheme to quell any
thoughts of revolt.

Bring in the nobles and men who have made their
fortunes elsewhere to run the schools and academies. It would cost the royal
treasury dearly, but with Pharaoh’s iron fist behind the promise of better
schools, incessant testing would continue and compliance would follow.

The rich and privileged are eager to preserve
the school system. Nowadays, we know them as successful businessmen, corporate
types, investors and consultants. They see in their call to
service an opportunity to keep the good order and to mine the gold in the
vaults of education. All of this good work will be done for the glory of
Pharaoh!

And so they swiftly descend on classrooms like
lice, feeding on the blood of innocent children. Some attack like wild animals—greedy
lions and wolves, damaging schools and classrooms, leaving room for the noble
profiteers to take them over or replace the ones they have destroyed.

In the wake of the insect infestation and
beastly assaults, more testing takes place than ever before, wasting too much
of the school day, draining time and resources from teaching and learning.
Biblical scholars describe this as a time of pestilence when generations were
deprived of opportunities to acquire knowledge and experience the joy of
learning.

Children become anxious about the exams and
what failing them can mean. For many they are an affliction that makes their
flesh crawl. Yet Pharaoh’s wise men tell him the tests have been too easy and
useless for years. At once he orders difficult ones to appear.
The students and teachers are not prepared. Children are told the tests will be
harder, but this will make them stronger.

Parents in the land begin to grumble again.
Some say they will not let their children go take these new tests. Enraged,
Pharaoh hails down stinging edicts on parents throughout the empire proclaiming
all children under his dominion must take them.
If not, they and their parents will be dealt with severely for defying his
supreme law. There is no other choice.

Now the Ruler commands his scribes to prepare
the harsh tests. And they write the many very difficult items
that will appear on the examinations brought forth like locusts to devour new
crops.

Still not convinced that the large hailstones
falling from sickly green clouds will keep the masses in line, Pharaoh asks his
gods to turn the skies black—leaving the people in a greater state of shock,
uncertainty and fear. And soon blinding darkness covers the land with confusion
and panic, and no one knows where to turn. Testing prevails.

Few children pass. And with that, the hopes and dreams of so
many are defeated and the spark needed to grow in knowledge, happiness and
wisdom is extinguished before it can ever set their minds on fire. And Pharaoh
and the elite prosper.